Reliquary
by Doku-Sama-219
Summary: I allowed a toothy grin to spread across my face as they fell into one another trying to see who could bound higher than the other, a booming laugh rising up my throat again as I closed my eyes and slithered after them at an evenly spaced pace. Then there was a scream.


**Title**: Reliquary

**Author**: Adder-Rufus1

**Fandom**: Pokemon

**Rating**: T

**Genre**: Family/Fantasy

**Summary**: [Set in Riako's P.O.V] [Currently a One-Shot] – Taking a breather from traveling across the Sinnoh Region, Riako the Feraligatr and his comrades take their time to rest up and train in preparation for the Battle Frontier. However, not everything is as it seems.

'_I allowed a toothy grin to spread across my face as they fell into one another trying to see who could bound higher than the other, a booming laugh rising up my throat again as I closed my eyes and slithered after them at an evenly spaced pace. Then there was a scream__._'

**~ Claimer**: This story is of my design and copyright as is everything within it: story, characters, etc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters belong to its rightful owners, I only own Riako the Feraligatr, Salo and other characters not in the series; this story, creatures or other unknown items are mine. If there is anything that I have mentioned, such as names of people, it's purely coincidental.

**~ Author's Note**: - A one-shot for now, depends on how many review I receive, if then I'll pick up the original storyline. All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead; is purely coincidental. [Human-Talk: "No-Italics." Poké-speak: "_Italics._" Thoughts: _Italics_.]

Reliquary

The wild Quilava stumbled back a few steps; the flames spurting from the sides of its body were now doused to a mere ember as it shook its head from side to side as if it were hoping to shake off its weakened state. My muscles tensed as the last drop of my Hydro Pump formed into a trickle of water at the side of my jaws, sliding through my teeth and down my scales, before landing on the grassy terrain.

"Go, Pokéball!" My eyes followed the crimson-ashen ball as it flew over my head, smacking the Quilava on the scruff of its neck as it fell to the floor. A red light, resembling a ruby lightning bolt, shot out of it as the ball absorbed the essence of the Quilava, the Pokémon in question vanishing into the orb.

I let my body fall onto all fours, jaws locking together as I awaited the Pokéball to finishing shaking on the ground, my Trainer copying as did his companions. A whirling sound echoed around the vicinity as the ball continued to shake, before a clicking noise filled my senses; Quilava was safely captured.

A thrumming laugh surrounded my hearing as my master strolled past me, crouching down to cradle the Pokéball in his hands, a proud smile accumulating across his face as he stared at his new Pokémon.

"Hey, Riako," He murmured softly, fingertips gliding across the surface of my new team mate as I dragged my heavy figure across the ground, slinking my way over to him, pale fingers brushing again my jaw as he smiled at me, "Nice job."

A grumbling hum made its way up my oesophagus as a sign of thanks, head tilting upwards as the back of his nail skimmed against the base of my throat. I heard a deep chuckle from behind me, my tail swishing in reaction when I slumped the weight of my body to one side, whilst I used the other to turn and eye our companions standing within the foliage.

Dalen, the being who laughed, was leaning against a tree trunk, sleeveless top creased against the rough bark, as his cargo shorts flailed in the wind, trainers crossing one another as he relaxed into the tree. His hair was a rather unique shade of blonde, containing one of each colour, apart from black and auburn; skin tanned, eyes a light coffee hue. He was the more logical out of the four of us, and being a Pokémon Breeder, he was the only one who made a decent meal.

Next to him was his cousin, Maya; her hair was set in wavy blonde streaks, tumbling over her shoulders as though it was a waterfall; eyes the same colour as Dalen's contrast. Clad in a buttoned ashen shirt, overshadowed by a dark chocolate vest, with skinny jeans and light coloured shoes. She was closest to Salo, apart from me, and was rarely seen apart since they had been travelling with one another since I evolved from Croconaw, and Maya captured Skarmory.

My Trainer's – Salo - attire consisted of a layered-tee, the top layer grey as the bottom was a darker contrast; baggy black jeans, with dark trainers; silver buckled belt wrapped around his waist, Pokéball's hanging off it in small pockets. His hair was bronzed, skin pale as his eyes bore the same colour as an oak tree. Salo and I had been partnered with one another since I was a Totodile, travelling with one another for merely a few months before I evolved into a Croconaw, and just before he met Maya, evolved into a Feraligatr.

"What are you laughing at?" Salo questioned, pocketing Quilava's Pokéball as he shifted his light eyes to Dalen, who was still chuckling like a maniac; me, Maya and Salo questioning his welfare.

He pointed sideways with his thumb to the small boisterous creatures tumbling in the emerald background. "Them two." A slash of cherry and cobalt appeared in my vision, before vanishing into the green. I rolled my eyes, knowing who it was.

Salo sighed, knowing also, as his sonorous voice pleaded. "Riako, could you deal with this?"

I nodded once, before I shifted my weight into my hind legs, powering me forward as my stature swayed across the dusty terrain. Plusle and Minun, the two nuisances passed onto Salo from his parents, were always play-fighting with one another, and to sum it up, they always managed to get themselves into a spot of trouble. They considered me to be their big brother, which is why Salo always asked me to deal with them, since I was the only Pokémon they noticeably listened to.

Squeaks and peeps rushed through my senses, body angling towards a large clearing, as I heard flowing water nearby. I slumped my way round the corner, to find Minun and Plusle, tumbling in a small cloud of dust towards the nearby stream. I fought the urge to revolve my eyes again.

"_Hey, pipsqueaks._" My resonating voice caused my body to shake, the ground brushing against my stomach rumbled as did the small fragments of stone. The ball of cerise and azure tumbleweed stopped, both paused in motion as I saw the two of them stop pushing and shoving. I grumbled to them, "_What are you two playing at_? _I told you what would happen if you did this again."_

The pair had the decensy to look ashamed, each releasing one another as they put on the 'Forgive us, cause were cute,' tone. "_We're sorry, big brother._" Digging the claws of their feet into the ground, twisting their foot in a cute action, they added, "_We won't do it again._"

"_You two said that last time._" I thrusted my weight into my front paws, shoving my hands against the ground as I pushed myself up onto my hind legs; stomping my way over to them as I used my intimidating size to make my threat clear. "_Swear to me that you will keep your promise, or I swear I won't be responsible for my actions._"

"_We promise, big bro,_" The duo of red and blue raised their paws, one in the air and one on their torso, "_We swear we won't cause anymore trouble for you or the others_."

I narrowed my eyes at them, causing them to flinch at the effect of my height and power, "_And…_"

"_We promise to stay within eyesight and not cause you anymore worry; nor will we defy your words._"

"_Because…_?"

They closed their eyes and stood tall, myself miming, bouncing my finger to each syllable spoken, as they recited, "_If I ever shall run off, and defy the trust of my Trainer and my fellow Pokémon, they will not always be there to help; as our lives and our ownership will be placed in danger. If I ever run off, it will be foolish, because help will not always appear and answer our calls. Some are good, some are bad, many are the ones inbetween; but we are not willing to take those chances._"

I leant down, landing on all fours again; reaching over with one paw to Minun and leant my head against Plusle's shoulder as I laughed, "_And don't you forget it._" The two giggled like school children before I vaulted away - running from them - beckoning them to chase me back to Salo and the others, to which they complied, chirruping as they bounded with me.

The playfulness of the situation last for a good quarter of an hour, the two petite Pokémon jumping on the mass of red spikes on my back, both of them gripping on as let my body collapse to the floor, my scales destroying anything that came into contact with my underside as I slid across the grass and into a small pool of water.

The mouse-like creatures squeaked their surprise and frantically pulled on my spikes to get out of their as quickly as possible. A grumbling laugh passed my maw as I drug my body back out, my tail smacking against the familiar feel of denim upon my exit. Angling my head to where my tail was, my trainer came into view, a small smile playing upon his features as he took in the situation.

The mathematical-mice waved their greeting as I bounced my tail off the ground once to state my acknowledgement. Maya and Dalen stepped out from the foliage as Salo turned his head to look for them, each trainer smiling at the presence of the other.

Stepping towards the two coated with the shade of the trees, our trainer took a step forward, before looking back towards us. "Come on then," He ushered us towards him with a limp hand, "Let's get going."

Minun and Plusle leapt off me in synchronisation, the light in their eyes as bright as themselves as they bounded towards the Master, chirruping still. I allowed a toothy grin to spread across my face as they fell into one another trying to see who could bound higher than the other, a booming laugh rising up my throat again as I closed my eyes and slithered after them at an evenly spaced pace.

Then there was a scream.

My eyes shot open almost immediately, and latched immediately onto Plusle and Minun. The two equation-resembling Pokémon were crushed into one another, bound in the grasp of a large claw, the colour of purple and the material metallic. The two were reeled back with the large mechanical hand, suspended above a Magikarp designed machine floating within the water.

I bellowed a roar in response, the vocals in the back of my throat working more than they should, and it alerted my Trainer and the others. "_Plusle_!_ Minun_!"

"_Riako_!"

Then there was a laugh. Three laughs in fact, all extremely familiar. "_Oh, no_…" I eyed the gap in the top of the Magikarp-Machine and groaned as three very familiar figures emerged from the inside. One white with scarlet, one white with indigo, and one white with whiskers, "_Not again_."

"_Listen - is that a voice I hear?_

_It speaks to me loud and clear._

_On the wind,_

_Past the stars,_

_In your ears!_

_Bringing chaos at a break-neck pace,_

_Dashing hope, putting fear in its place;_

_A rose by any other name is just as sweet,_

_When everything's worse, our work is complete!_

_Jessie!_

_James!_

_Meowth, that's a name!_

_Putting the do-gooders in their place;_

_Team Rocket,_

_Where in your face!_

_Wobbuffet!_

_Mime, mime, mime_!"

Salo, Maya, Dalen cried in unison as I watched the two struggling Pokémon. "Team Rocket!" Plusle and Minun were shuffling as much as they could, as they tried to free themselves, but to no veil as Meowth pressed a button that only tightened the claws' grip.

"_Big brother, help us_!"

Salo growled from his place next to me, "Let them go, you annoying freaks!"

Jessie laughed in mockery as she leaned forward, placing a hand on her knee, grinning as she taunted, "That's rich, coming from a twerp like you." She grinned complacently, "Why would we let these darling Pokémon of yours go anyway? It's not like were going to give them back to you without expecting something in return."

Maya pushed pass Salo, the said person grasping her shoulder as she went for them, Leafeon tensed at her feet. "And what may that be? Don't you guys ever get tired of following us?"

James placed his hand on his hips, "Haven't we given you enough clues already?"

Meowth sneered his rejoinder, "_We want Riako, twerp. And the rest of your Pokémon_."

Dalen summoned his Swampert out, the water-ground type Pokémon standing stiffly by his side as he assessed the scene in front of him. "Not a chance, kitty. Why bother? You guys always know that we kick your asses back to the skies everytime you come back again, and again, and again."

I snarled. "_Enough of this_,"

Shooting forward, I charged straight for the river-bank as I was overcome with raw emotion for the two little terrors as I saw the horrified expressions on their faces. Head first, I dove into the water - the coldness of the water nullified as my cold-blooded system heated it to allow me to stay comfortable - my body easily moving around in the cool liquid as my senses muffled the speech above and I heard the forming waves and an odd whirling sound.

A propeller was twirling around and around underneath the ship as the one behind the boat was stationary, the underbelly ones allowed it to stay afloat. My tailed swayed behind me as I shifted the weight of my body from side to side, allowing me to pass quickly through the water; paws from each leg shifting from forward and backwards to help me gain momentum and speed.

Closing in on the propeller, I opened my jaws, inhaling allowing the water to fill up my mouth as I readied a Crunch – being a Big Jawed Pokémon had its advantages. I watched the time each blade twirled in a full three-sixty, eyes capturing and remembering each point the blade gyrated.

Timing it right, I leant my head back preparing to strike, before snapping it forward, capturing a blade in my jaws, the spinning abruptly stopped as a large screeching noise echoed in the water, the sound of metal grinding against my teeth made me flinch. Luckily, the underbelly blade didn't alert Team Rocket to what I was doing; either that or they hadn't noticed me dive in at their ship.

The blade pushed against my mouth harder, attempting to continue its cycle, before I clenched my jaw tighter, the metal bending by the strength of my maw. Rotating my body around, keeping the blade tightly in my mouth - digging my claws into the underside of the ship to steady myself – I pulled hard on the propeller, in hopes to rip it off. A screech resonated, indicating it was about to - the blade and the ones next to it now angled way from the machine.

I tugged once more, digging my claws firmly into the ship, almost breaking through the vessels steel cover, before the propeller came off with a snap. It wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be.

Unclamping my jaw, the metal chunk fell to the lake-bed; a small thud indicated its destruction.

I nodded to myself, before I grasped the bar, which the propeller was held, with my claws and lowered my head so it was equally levelled with the ships below. If I studied it close enough I could see the few strips of metal that lead to the inside of the ship. I leaned back by a few inches, before I smashed my head into the bar that most likely supported the weight of the vessel.

A dent made itself obvious in the craft's structure and I headbutted the pipe repeatedly. Muffled yelps made themselves known to me as I slammed into the ship again, a small prodding making itself noticeable in my forehead. A grunt echoed from my mouth and around the river's water when I leant back twice as far than before, then slammed my head for the final time into the pipe.

A chunk was missing out of the pipe as though I had bitten through it - the dent were I had headbutted was of a larger mass, about the size of a curled fist in the vessel; metal splintering from the power of my head. "_Timber,_" I bellowed as the cold water started to fill the pipe and the ship's interior, the boat tipping from its sudden off-balance.

Swishing my tail up and down, powering my way to the surface – finally allowing the water to spill out of my maw – I watched as the, apparently, _almighty_ Team Rocket grasped onto the side of the ship for support as it tipped from side to side, a inch taken off each every time it swayed. My eyes shot up to the terrible two in the grasp of the claw, which was now leaning backwards as it threatened to snap from loss of stability.

And it did snap. Soprano cries emitted from above, and I watched as they fell, their landing angled towards the bank. Using this to my advantage, I moved my extra appendage around; performing an Aqua Tail that helped thrust me forwards and launched me out of the water.

Using the air-time to manoeuvre my body around, I twisted so I would land on my back, Plusle and Minun thumped their landing into my stomach – as soon as they landed, however, I twisted again; this time I allowed all my weight to slump to my abdomen, the sudden change in my body's equilibrium caused my head to tilt to far and caused my body to rotate half a back flip. The move was a succession as I landed on my hind legs, the ground shaking in response to my heaviness.

The pair of mathematical mice buried their heads into my sapphire chest, whimpering their thank you's as their pair of tiny paws clung onto me for dear life. I leant down and coaxed them into silence, before passing them to Swamp, whom shifted them to his left arm as he used the other to balance himself.

Meowth managed to catch himself before he fell, face confused as to what had happened until he noticed the mouse-Pokémon in Swamp's grasp, and the furious look on mine as he had threatened my little siblings. "_Uh, oh - erm, guys_?" Jessie and James turned their heads towards the talking Pokémon, eyes shifting to where he was looking before they noticed my shaking figure.

I extended my claws, elongated fingers tapping mid-air as I growled threatening at them, ready to use my Slash ability. Before anyone had a chance to speak, my arm flung out and four large scraps were issued alongside the ship, the vessel losing all the more of its equilibrium as it angled the top of the craft to us – Team Rocket still clinging to the rails.

I growled menacingly at the trio, before stepping backwards a few metres – body falling onto its belly as I once again landed on all fours - then charged at full speed, tail manoeuvring from left to right as I prepared a leap. When I was airborne, I pulled my paw back– curling the large hand into a fist – and performed Guillotine at the control console that was dangling out of boat.

An echoing bang followed, as did the destruction of the ship, blowing the trio of twerps into the skies - not surprisingly - yet again. Jessie ranted as Meowth and James looked resigned to the situation, Mime Jr perched on James' shoulder as Wobuffet leaned over Jessie's head, much to her dismay before they screamed in unison, "We're blasting off again!"

_Good riddance_, I snorted to the atmosphere, hoping that they would get the message and stay away this time. Spinning around, I focused on the shivering duo in the water-ground Pokémon's arms, cradled gently as they whimpered their worries out. It did nonetheless break my heart to see the ecstatic two being put down to a level such as this, but they would get over it soon.

I grunted the question "_May I_?" towards the Swampert, to which the evolved Mudkip slid Plusle and Minun into my bulky figure, the mice-beings clawing their thanks at me as they cried in fright.

The spikes on my back prickled upwards, as they were pulled backwards by a pet, caught my attention – I flickered my gaze towards Salo who mouthed his gratitude towards me, Maya and Dalen copying.

The little mice buried their heads under my scaled neck, claws digging almost-painfully into my skin as a sign of their fear, but with a few grumbles and grunts from me, did they finally calm down enough and dissolved into nothing but muted sobs.

Even if this was a break, I merely hoped for a day's peace next to the banks of the river, wishing to hear the soothing sound of running water, which would have all but lulled me into a trance like state as the winds hummed a simple lullaby that would cause me to relax almost simultaneously.

I resisted the urge to sigh, not wanting to disturb the quieting rodents.

But no, I began to believe that Kyogre and Groudon were cursing me over these past few days as those pathetic excuse of Pokémon Capturers started to pursue me. It was inexcusable. End. Of.

However, capturing a glimpse of green light shimmering out the corner of my eye, trails of what appeared to be fireflies or some sort of miniscule Pokémon trailing after the glow, deeper into the forest, I had a feeling these weren't of their design. I had done nothing to upset or anger them.

The funniest thing was that I couldn't stop myself from grinning like a fool as I caught sight of a lime-green smile within the luminosity of the trail, and the giggle that reminded me of chimes.

After all, Celebi did have a nag for getting into trouble.

**A/N: Yes, first submission after two years of starting an account on this thing, ^^' – Not sure whether I should do what I originally planned and continue this or leave it as a one-shot. This is a very old drabble, so do forgive me if I am a bit rusty. I'm too busy conjuring stuff up for Black Rock Shooter, so that will probably be my next goal.**

**So, anyways, do me a favour, drop a review for me to let me know your opinion. Flamers will be the guys I need for roasting my marshmallows, and criticism is more then welcome.**

**Until the next,**

**Doku-Sama-219**


End file.
